


Lucky Number

by CaptainAwesome242



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Character Study, Crew as Family, Cultural Differences, Curiosity, Enterprise, Five Year Mission, Gen, Illogical, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Religion, Starship Enterprise (Star Trek), Superstition, Tumblr Prompt, away mission, luck, lucky numbers, numbers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-11
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-08-14 11:25:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8011774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainAwesome242/pseuds/CaptainAwesome242
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hikaru Sulu has a lucky number. He decides to ask the crew what theirs are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lucky Number

According to the classical Earth song, three was the magic number. Hikaru didn’t know about magic, but he knew that for him three was definitely a lucky number. It was special to him; it was the number of members of his tiny family. His husband Ben and his daughter Demora had changed his life in more ways than one, and all for the better.

He felt bad for constantly leaving them behind, but they had reassured him that they were fine; they understood that piloting the Enterprise was what Hikaru needed to do and they whole-heartedly supported him. He was blessed and incredibly lucky to have them in his life.

Yes, three was a lucky number for Hikaru. Although, he decided, if he and Ben were to have another child he would change his lucky number to four in a heartbeat.

As these thoughts ran through his head he wondered if anyone else had lucky numbers and if there were significant reasons behind them like his. He made it his personal mission to find out.

...

The first person he asked was his best friend Pavel Chekov when they were on duty together. The Bridge was buzzing with its usual level of activity on a quiet, red alert free day, so Hikaru was sure no one would notice their non-work related conversation.

“Hey, Pav? What’s your lucky number?” he asked quietly.

Pavel frowned in curiosity, “My lucky number? Vhy do you ask?”

Hikaru shrugged, “Just wondering. Do you have one?”

“Sure, eet’s sewenteen,”

“Why seventeen?”

“Eet’s ze age I vas vhen I joined ze Enterprise, ze best sing zat has ever happened to me,” Pavel said with a small smile, “Just as vell because even numbers are considered unlucky een Russia.”

Hikaru raised his eyebrows, “Really?”

Pavel nodded seriously, “Da, een Russia ve bring an even number of flowers to a funeral, so eet’s unlucky to give someone an even number of flowers eef zey are still alive. Eet has just followed zat even numbers een general are unlucky,”

“Huh, I never knew that,” Hikaru said thoughtfully.

Pavel nodded, “Ve should know about lucky numbers, considering zey vere inwented een Russia,”

The little smirk on his face told Hikaru that his friend had just made that fact up, but he rolled his eyes and smiled too, “Whatever you say, Pav,”

...

Later that day on his lunch break, Hikaru tried to find a place to sit in the Mess Hall and spied Nyota Uhura sitting alone. He sat down opposite her and she smiled up at him.

“Hey,” she greeted.

“Hey, I have a quick question for you,”

“Shoot,” she said, looking intrigued.

“What’s your lucky number?” Hikaru asked.

“Seven,” Nyota answered easily, “What’s yours?”

“Mine’s three,” Hikaru announced with a proud smile.

Nyota paused for a second before she smiled knowingly, “Ah, because of your family,”

Hikaru nodded, “Yeah. What about you? Why seven?”

“Several reasons really,” Nyota began, “You know God created the Earth in seven days,”

Hikaru raised a curious eyebrow, “I didn’t know you were religious,”

She nodded, “Yes, Christianity is very important to me. My faith in God is a big part of who I am,”

Hikaru was quite pleasantly surprised, “Oh, I’ve never heard you mention it before,”

“Well, I know most of the other people on the ship aren’t religious, or if they are very few are Christians. I respect and appreciate other people’s beliefs by not contradicting them with my own. Like I said, it’s very important to me, but a lot of other cultures disagree on a few key elements and I don’t bring it up because I don’t want to argue with anyone. Especially over something that is just as important to them as mine is to me,”

“Whoa, that’s really thoughtful. And I never even knew,” Hikaru was stunned by this revelation of Nyota’s consideration for her fellow crewmembers. 

Nyota smiled, “Exactly. But there are other reasons I like the number seven,”

Hikaru leaned forward excitedly, “Like what?”

“It’s just natural; there are seven continents and seven seas on Earth. There are seven days in a week. And there seven of us on the command crew, the number just feels right,” she smiled fondly.

“Wow, that’s really interesting,” Hikaru found that he enjoyed his new hobby. He’d only asked two people so far but he was finding out so much about them, and he was really looking forward to asking the others.

“It does work though,” Nyota continued with a smirk, “We were on our seventh date when Spock finally kissed me,”

Hikaru pulled a face and Nyota laughed, swiftly changing the topic.

...

The next day, Hikaru got his chance to ask his question to Commander Spock. The two of them had beamed down as part of the away team and had paired off to take readings of the plant life. He knew that Spock wasn’t really one for small talk, so he just got straight to the point and asked him.

“Hey, Mr Spock, what’s your lucky number?”

Spock raised an eyebrow, “Vulcans do not believe in luck, Mr Sulu. Is it common for Humans to assign luck to specific numbers?”

Sulu nodded, of course Spock didn’t have a lucky number, “Yeah, loads of people do it,”

“For what purpose?”

“Many reasons, but I guess most people do it for a sense of comfort. It’s reassuring to them to have a special number,”

“Is there any scientific basis behind finding one’s ‘lucky number’ besides superstition?” Spock asked, frowning ever so slightly in confusion.

“Oh yeah, people choose their lucky number for all kinds of reasons, most of which are actually quite logical. The only part that is superstitious is the fact that it is lucky,” Hikaru elaborated.

“What reasons do people use to find their number?” Spock asked, and although Hikaru was enjoying himself he realised he was no longer in charge of this Q&A session.

“Sometimes it’s specific to a person like their birthday or the age they were when something important or really good happened. Some people just like the look of a number. For me though, my lucky number is three because there are three people in my immediate family,”

“Fascinating,” Spock summarised, “Do you place much significance on this number in your day-to-day life? Are you affected every time you see the number three?”

“No, not exactly,” Hikaru said thoughtfully, “I mean I think of my family when I see it sometimes, but I don’t go out of my way to incorporate it into my life,”

“In what ways do people incorporate it into their lives?” Spock asked as he scanned a leaf with his tricorder.

“Well, it depends on the person and how much the superstition means to them. Some people just mark the day on the calendar as being a lucky day, while some people gamble their life savings on their favourite numbers. But for most people it’s just a number they like or reminds them of something or someone,”

“That is entirely illogical,” Spock dismissed.

Hikaru chuckled, “Maybe so, but we are an illogical race,”

Spock said nothing to deny this.

“Okay, so you don’t have a lucky number, but do you have a number that looks good to you?”

Spock looked thoughtful, “I find it somewhat pleasing when equations round up to a whole number, is that what you are referring to?”

Hikaru nodded, “Yeah, that’s it! So you don’t like all those decimals then?”

“I neither like them nor dislike them, they simply exist,”

“What about other numbers? Is there a specific number?” Hikaru probed.

“Is there a particular reason for this line of enquiry?” Spock asked almost suspiciously.

Hikaru shrugged, “I’m just curious,”

Spock stared piercingly at him before answering, “Very well, I also enjoy the appearance of palindromes, numbers that read the same forwards as well as backwards,”

“Oh, yeah, they do look nice,” Hikaru commented before they heard an ominous rumble growing closer.

Spock stood and listened carefully, “Run,” he ordered, just as a large beast came crashing through the foliage.

...

Hikaru lay on the ground at the beam up site with Doctor McCoy tending to the large wound on his side while they waited for the Enterprise to beam them out.

“How in the hell did you not hear that monster coming sooner? We could hear it growling and we were further away,” Len demanded as he tried to stem the bleeding from the claw gouge while distracting Hikaru and keeping him talking.

“We were engaged in a rather distracting conversation,” Spock answered, simultaneously helping Hikaru by answering for him and getting him into to trouble by claiming that he was distracting them, leaving the Pilot to wonder whose side he was on.

“About what?” Len asked curiously.

“I wanted... to know what his lucky... number was,” Hikaru ground out through clenched teeth.

“His lucky number? Does Spock even have a lucky number?” Len raised an incredulous eyebrow.

Hikaru shook his head, “No, he just likes... whole numbers... and... palindromes,”

“Huh, typical Vulcan liking fancy numbers. Why were you asking anyway?”

Hikaru tried to shrug but winced when he pulled his wound, “Just curious... what’s yours?”

“Mine’s just whatever age I am,”

“Why?” Hikaru probed in a pained whisper.

“Well, I figure that with all the death and destruction and all the dangers that come from being a Doctor, _and_ from being on the Enterprise, _and_ from being friends with Jim, I figure I’m lucky to have lived this long,” Len ranted, although was secretly pleased that Hikaru was able to keep up a steady conversation as he worked.

“And... what number is that... now?”

Len raised an eyebrow, “I think you’re getting a little too personal there, bucko,”

“‘A little too personal’ about what?” Jim asked as he and Scotty returned from chasing the beast off with their phasers.

“Ah, you’re back. I need you to keep Sulu talking while I patch him up. Do NOT let him sleep,” Len ordered as he continued his work.

Jim crouched by Hikaru’s head as Scotty started working on his communicator trying to contact the Enterprise.

“Hey, stay with me,” Jim snapped his fingers as Hikaru’s eyes drifted shut.

Hikaru started and his eyes snapped open and focused on Jim, “Captain?”

“Yeah, I’m here. How are you doing?” Jim asked.

Hikaru only snorted.

Jim laughed gently, “That good, huh? Anyway what was Bones getting touchy about just now?”

“I... asked him what his... lucky number was... he said... it was his age... and I asked... what that was...” Hikaru answered breathily.

“You asked Bones how old he is?” Jim asked; he would have laughed at the look on Len’s face if the circumstances hadn’t been so serious.

Hikaru nodded, “What’s... your... lucky number... Captain?”

“Sixty nine,” Jim proudly announced, causing Len to roll his eyes and Hikaru smile weakly.

Spock frowned in confusion at their reactions, “Is there some significance to this number?”

Hikaru managed to smile even wider and Scotty turned a funny shade of red as he tried to hold in his laughter. Len merely looked pointedly at a remarkable straight-faced Jim.

“Well, Jim, would you care to explain to Spock why you like sixty nine so much?” Len asked, returning his focus to Hikaru’s wound.

Jim shrugged, “I just like the look of it, the way the numbers fit together just right,”

Scotty had greater trouble concealing his laughter this time and even Hikaru managed a weak chuckle, leaving Spock unconvinced.

“I feel there is some form of humour that I am missing,” Spock confessed.

“As much as I would love to make Jim explain this to you it’ll have to wait, we need to get back aboard the Enterprise as soon as possible so I can treat this properly,” Len announced, causing a still giggling Scotty to double his efforts with his communicator.

“Sc... Scotty? What’s... your... lucky... number?” Hikaru asked.

“Oh, it’s one thousand seven hundred and one,” Scotty informed him, not looking up from his communicator.

“The Enterprise’s registry number,” Spock deduced.

“That’s right, she’s my lucky lady,”

Spock had seemed like he was about to question Scotty’s statement but he never got the chance as the landing party was suddenly beamed aboard the Enterprise and everyone dispersed. Len whisked Hikaru away to Sickbay, Jim went to the Bridge and Scotty headed down to Engineering leaving Spock alone in the Transporter Room.

He decided he would join Jim on the Bridge, and see if he could discover why the number sixty nine was such a source of amusement.


End file.
